Chapter Text
No one could sleep. How could they with that looming over their heads?
No one quite understood what he meant when he said he had to kill his bride just to ‘see these stars again’ but before they could think to ask him, he ran off.
Fast.
Faster than they knew he could run.
It was instantaneous;
First: weird cryptic message.
Second: No more Link.
The sound that ripped out of his throat as he forced his hand over his mouth and struggled to get up off the rough ground was downright dreadful. It was like an awful retch mixed with a rasp for breath. He was coughing and hacking past his hand, but he held his mouth shut, running off until they couldn’t hear him any longer.
Needless to say, they rushed to find him.
-
Those who had torches led the way, Wolfie carried the back, picking up on everything anyone else might’ve missed. “What the fuck was wrong with him?” Interrupted their search with an unconventional snap to it. Then it was quickly taken back in a storm of stutters, “I swear, I did not mean to say it like that. Does anyone know what happened? That’s what I meant. Like, why did he feel the need to run off in such a hurry?”
No one took their eyes from the search, but they couldn’t help but shift in their skin, just thinking - reeling - over the sights and sounds that they were left with.
“You heard what he said, how he reacted. He’s scared, if not because of the inability to know how we’d react to the truth, then because he’s uncertain why he felt compelled to tell us.”
“Compelled?”
“-You don’t force your mouth shut just for funsies!”
△
After an eternity of searching with nothing to show for it, they decided it was best to split into two groups, each set to patrol a patch of land in the direction they originally saw him run towards.
“We still can’t wrap our head around it. Why did he run?”
“You heard why - he’s scared. He hates to be vulnerable, he always needs to have a guard up. He’s not one to expose more of himself than he can control.”
“No no. We-we can understand that. What we mean is… killing someone, is it that big a deal? We’ve done it before.” Forced silence, almost a mirror of the catalyst that set them off on this trek.
Their hand slapped over their mouth, clawing at their cheeks and lips - fresh blood washing down onto their chin, but they fought to not let go. Words threatened to escape their prison, sputtering away into gasps as they refused to speak.
-
“I hope he’s doing okay.” His search partner looked his way in between the calls for their friend. “I’ve never seen him look that small, that frightened. Did you see the way his ears shot up? And how his hair was standing on end before he sprinted away?”
“Thought I saw his eyes dilate, guess I just chalked it up to the light.” They waited for the rest of their group to catch up, trading info on potential locations. Goddesses how they hoped they would find him soon, as the moon rose to near-peak, enveloping the ground with a layer of fog.
They wouldn’t give up, no matter how long it took. No matter how far they had to travel. They were going to bring him home.
△
They found him as far away as Lake Hylia.
Sitting on the dirty sand, knees held tight to his chest as silent tears were lost to the vast waters below.
No one was too loud, nor were they too quiet - they knew it would be unfavorable to spook him with any capacity of sound or lack thereof.
Sky was the first to move, showing that he was approaching, then calmly wrapped his sailcloth around his brother’s shoulders. “-Legend-” It wasn’t an ask, a demand, or a suggestion. Just plain old.
When Legend didn’t respond, Sky took that to sit down, showing his brothers - all of them, that it was going to be okay.
Legend wiped his tears with the sleeve of his undershirt, sniffling away the remainders, tucking his head to his knees, “Suppose you want an answer.” He spoke, meek and wobbly. Not how they’d grown accustomed to, all bark and bite.
Warriors began to open his mouth but paused from the look on Sky. Warriors had nothing important to say.
“I don’t,” Sky promised, rubbing the veteran's back, calm soothing circles on the path of his aching bones and muscles. “We just want to know that you are okay. I am not going to ask anything, I’m not going to tell you anything. All I care about is that we return to the camp together in one piece.”
They sat together in silence, watching as the moon began its descent into the trees, Legend raised his head enough to see the moonlight reflect onto the lake. The plops of fish jumping out of the water, and the pitter-patter of Hylia’s creatures swam through his mind, bringing him back down. Through the fog, whistling across the lake he heard…
Sleepers wake
Dreams will fade
Although we cling fast
Was it real;
What we saw?
…sung with her sweet jingling voice, the one he swore he would always wake up to. When he closed his eyes he could see her long but damaged hair shifting with the morning breeze. She always gave him such a sweet smile before he left for the mountain and he always kept it with him as he turned back around, away from-
But he swore he’d always wake!
Through broken notes, he began to hum, with the words he learned breaking through gently. “Stay with me, by my side. Never leave.” He couldn’t take it, he had to stop.
“That was lovely.” Time approached, fiddling with an old and worn ocarina, “Think you could teach it to me?”
Legend nodded as he began to stand up, Sky offered support, silently saying that he didn’t have to be alone. “In the morning.” He wiped his face clean, eyes red and shaky, scrapes racing from his cheek to his mouth which he had been picking at - spilled liquid painted his fingernails. “I think it’s about time we got some rest.”
If Wild hadn’t left his only good cooking pot at their previous camp, the shore would have made for a wonderful spot. Calm. Quiet. Serene.
Alas, they had a muddy chunk of land to return to, but they were glad to; because it meant that they were back together again, even if the Lizalfos wanted otherwise.
Sky never let go, hand on Legend’s hem, shoulder, own hand. Wherever Legend needed to anchor, the chosen hero was there.
“I was 9, almost 10.” Legend spoke, soft, pitiful, and unsure. Head down as they followed the uneven paths out. “Ganon fell not long before, and the Kingdom was still recovering… I- I needed out. Out of my empty house, out of that hellish kingdom, out of being the hero. I begged Fable to come with me, to take a break just for a couple of days, but she had responsibilities she wasn’t allowed to ‘shirk from’.” Legend ground at his teeth, brow furrowed. It pissed him off everytime he remembered, “The staff never let her rest! She was just kidnapped, forced to watch her trusted maidens get sacrificed by a Mage her father allowed into their home, and then told over and over and OVER that it was all 'her fault'! Just because of some damn golden blood.
"We just saved the Kingdom, the whole freaking world, and still... no one let us rest!”
The Chain shared a sympathetic look, darting from their vet to each other and then back. To have finished a perilous journey at such a young age, and then to be immediately greeted with unkindness. A break would’ve done wonders for their poor souls.
△
Sky led him past the overgrown yard, slashing a path into existence as their camp came into view. Wild headed straight for his pot, throwing an armful of Apples, Sugar, Butter, and Wheat in, watching them bounce around and mix.
The Chain moved their bedrolls closer to Legend’s and to Wild. Sitting, talking, waiting. Legend was quiet, hadn’t made so much as a peep after revealing how well his Princess and he were treated despite saving everyone. He shifted in his seat, picking at the grass, watching the others with constantly shifting eyes.
“Will you tell us what she was like?” Hyrule asked from across, and Legend sat ramrod straight. Hyrule just smiled and tilted his head, he didn’t push.
“...Marin.” Legend spoke with hesitation, sighing in relief as Wild brought him a slice of fresh apple pie.
He poked at the crust absentmindedly, watching as his brothers tried (and failed) to act like they weren’t staring and listening. “Her name was Marin, and she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever met.
“She lived on a peaceful island in the middle of the ocean and saved me after I had been shipwrecked and stranded during a terrible storm.” He paused to take a bite, relishing in the warmth and familiarity of the meal.
Wind had leaned closer, enveloped in the story when Legend mentioned water, and visibly recoiled at the storm. Like, don’t get him wrong, he trusted Tetra and her crew but it didn’t mean he liked getting caught up in a storm, especially on a single-person boat.
“Her and her father took me in, introduced me to the villagers, and showed me all that their island offered.
“I didn’t plan on staying that long, just until I could get another boat and return to Fable. I was almost ready, but then monsters started appearing. They were outside the village, in the forests, near the shore. You could not escape them, the villagers were afraid to leave their homes. Except for Marin. She stood outside every day singing her song, she’d sing it so loud that wandering monsters would try and shut her up, and each time she just kept singing louder and louder!” He let out a small chuckle and sighed.
“I had to save her every morning, and every morning she’d ask me to take care of myself, then I’d go clear out the monsters and be back by noon to join her on the beach. We’d do the same thing day in and day out and I’d never get bored.” They let him finish his food, graciously accepting another slice when Wild prompted, and took a deep breath in.
And then out.
“When I was 11, a couple months from turning 12-”
-Were they hearing him correctly? 2 or so years he was on that island-
“- on the second anniversary of Ganon’s defeat, I was approached by a talking owl who warned me the monsters would only get stronger and their camps would spread further, and that the only way to stop them was to wake The Wind Fish that slept at the top of Mount Tamaranch. And I accepted.
“I loved spending time with Marin and the others, they taught me how to love and how to trust again, but I had gotten a taste of freedom and adventure I had only found in the crawl. Every morning I’d promise Marin to bring her a new flower to tie in her beautiful red hair. And every night she’d cry as I wrapped my wounds. I kept it up until one day she stopped me.
“All that week she hadn’t waved goodbye, or been singing her song, and I hate myself for not asking her sooner how she was feeling!” He bunched up his fist, nails cutting into the palm of his hand, shimmery liquid pooling across the lines. He wiped it on his shirt, uncaring. “That morning as I told her where I was headed, when I’d be back, and what I was hoping to accomplish… like I had been for the past three months I’d been dungeon-crawling - she hit me. She pounded her small, unscarred hands against my battered chest, crying and screaming. Yelling at me, saying she hated seeing me off every day, never knowing if that’d be the last we’d ever see of each other.
“I didn’t realize at that time.” He stopped and fumbled with his words, “She had to tell me through broken sentences that it had now been two years since she pulled me out of the water. Officially the start of spring…
“…I didn’t go out that day. Or that week. I took a short pause and focused on helping out around Mabe Village and whatever Marin’s father Tarin needed help with.”
The morning sun was peering over the horizon. Legend looked up to watch it grace their muddy land, taking this time to watch his comrades. He smiled as he saw Wind asleep sitting up, head placed in his hand repeatedly dropping and startling the young sailor awake.
Sky was tucked into the spot right next to Legend, eyes blinking slowly as he promised to hear Legend through to the end. Hands absentmindedly rubbing over the stitching on his sailcloth, thinking of Sun.
Time and Warriors were awake and alert, both watching the outskirts of camp for danger and Legend when they could.
The rest were in varying stages of consciousness, wanting to give all their attention to him, but also fighting tooth and nail with sleep.
Legend laughed to himself. Then thought back, this is what he ran away from? Was this who he ran away from? “I asked her to marry me!” Well, that woke everyone, as eight pairs of eyes stared at him, each with a different form of shock. Followed by ever-growing smiles.
Sky reached a tired arm out, “I’m happy for you.”
“Haa, she said I was an idiot. Then she kissed me.
“When I had blurted it out we had only known each other for 2 years and a couple of months. Hadn’t been dating nor had we even discussed it before, but I knew I loved her more than I thought possible and would do anything to not see her in pain. She was the one that brought me back to the beach, sitting on a fallen tree, water lapping at our feet. Her eyes were as red as her hair, and she constantly worried about me. I think that’s why I asked, so she’d know I would fight to return home for her sake. When I told her as much she smothered me and began crying so loudly her father rushed down and pulled her away in a hurry.
“It took us hours for Tarin to finally listen to us, then I had to deal with being paraded around town as he showed off his ‘new son’ Marin laughed for days afterwards.” Legend raked a hand through his hair, maybe he should have left that part out, but he was having a hard time skipping bits of the story. Some of it was nice to get out, to tell other’s about. Some others… He didn’t exactly want people to know that once upon a time he was not as bitey or as hard to pick up.
When he heard the abrupt snorts of Warriors' annoying laugh, and the guffaw of Wind’s he pulled his hat over his face to hide until they gave up.
A couple minutes passed before Legend could continue in peace. “I promised her I’d take it easy and not run into danger as if my life didn’t matter. I took more time between the dungeons and I didn’t clear them as fast as before. Then, I was given more clues as to what I needed to complete my task; 8 wonderful instruments.”
“So those, back at your home?” Wind asked, recalling the very first time they made it to Legends era… First time they met Ravio too.
“Duplicates. To remember.
“A year after I asked for her hand, and almost a year and a half since she last cried, we started planning the event. It was a pain to decide the date, I wanted to do it on her birthday, she wanted to do it on mine… We decided to wed on the anniversary of when we first met. With a date set, I wanted to finish my task before then, that way we would have a peaceful life together. So, I’d spend a couple of weeks tracking and recovering an instrument, then dedicate a month to wedding planning.
“In between I worked on forging her a ring. Silver, with a Piece of Heart carefully carved and set. I’d come across different gems on my journey and she’d pick her favorites to decorate the sides of the ring with. She loved anything pink, just like Fable.” He sighed, rubbing over the many rings that decorated his fists, twisting the few placed on his ring finger.
“She was wonderful. As beautiful as a field of flowers, and as strong as the trepidatious waves of the sea. She held me to my bullshit, but would join in on occasion. In fact, once I needed her help to locate a dungeon, the road had been blocked off by a Walrus who wouldn’t move until Marin came and sang for him. She dragged me across the island for a bit, going to the cliff near where we met, jumping after me into a hole, telling me not to hurt the hens.” Legend yawned, smiling faintly behind his hand. “There was this game in town, you move a claw and grab an item with it. I could barely control it, my timing was all off. But she. She begged me to let her play it, and yet when she grabbed ahold of the controllers she picked up the person in charge and got us banned!” He looked down at his now trembling hands, by the goddesses how he missed her.
“She sounds amazing, kid.” Time spoke from his watch, making sure to look at Legend when he did. He knew what it was like to be in love, and didn’t like how one of his own had to feel such a loss.
Legend blinked away the pain welling up in his eyes, convinced he was fine and could get through his story in one piece. “I came across a sign. It was more a carving on a wall, but that’s not the point. It told of the power of the Windfish’s dream, ‘To the finder… The Island of Koholint is but an illusion. Awake the dreamer, and Koholint will vanish much like a bubble on a needle.’ And I refused to listen!
“With less than a week remaining until our wedding and the last instrument almost in my possession, I crammed that last Dungeon into a single night, finished her ring the next day, and checked with Tarin that everything was set up for tomorrow afternoon. Marin could hardly sleep, she burst into my room dolled up in her dress, covered in bright flowers and flowing fabrics, jumping and exclaiming loudly how impatient she was. I had to drag her to my bed and pile blankets on her until she passed out, I followed not too long after.
“The next morning, Marin told me to complete my task, to wake the Wind Fish and save the island… Sometimes I wonder if she knew, or figured that something would happen. Another part of me then wonders why she would be so happy and so adamant for me to wake him up. My only solace was Marin choosing to come with me to play her song. Still wrapped up in her dress, and the ring tucked safely in my pocket we traversed up Mount Tamaranch and I into the Wind Fish’s resting spot, setting out to clear the monsters and locate him before bringing Marin in.
“The moment we approached him the instruments burst to life, swirling around us in the air, glowing and playing soft notes. Marin sang so clearly and so loudly, and one by one the instruments joined in, building onto her beautiful melody. When we played the final note, and the Wind Fish woke I began feeling sick. The edges of my vision were fading, and the noises of the island were getting garbled and muffled. Marin grabbed my hand, shaking, and asked me to never forget the song, or her.
“When I awoke on my raft I was less than a week from Hyrule, spring had just started, and there was no island anywhere near me. In my desperate attempts for a peaceful life and home, I destroyed the only thing that ever mattered to me. Mabe Village, Animal Village, Tarin, Marin. They were all dead because of me.” Legend’s voice tapered off, Sky dragged himself over and placed his sailcloth back on the vet’s shoulders. Letting soft words roll out of his mouth.
“It’s not your fault,” being one of them.
“It was though!” Legend snapped, hands gripping his hair, threatening to yank it out by the fistfuls. “I read the signs, the fucking monsters told me straight up, and even that damned owl warned me what would happen. But I kept telling myself that everyone was real, that Marin was as real as I was!
“When I woke up I still had her ring tucked away and scars from the monsters that roamed the dungeons, from the nightmares that wanted the island for themselves. I had physical- painful - proof that something happened, but there was no island on any sea chart, no legends of a magical floating sky whale, and the last storm documented was 3 months ago.
“I spent 4 years away, learned new things about the world and about myself, but I returned the rest of the kingdom was just beginning to rebuild from Ganon’s attack.” Legend rubbed over the Triforce insignia plastered on his hand, picking at his piece of courage. Hylia-dammit how he wished it’d give him the strength to finish. To then rest for the remainder of the day.
Time thumbed a silent song on his old ocarina, praying to Hylia he’d soon see Malon again. And again. And again, until they both grew old and died in each other’s arms.
Sky stared at the Loftwing figure he’d been slowly whittling away for Sun. Maybe a ring was more important to be focusing on. Tomorrow was never promised anyway.
“I do thank the goddesses when I think too hard.” Legend continued, “I thank them for the fact that Fable didn’t spend close to five years piecing her kingdom back together brick by brick all alone. Not yet Queen, but expected to handle it like she was. I know I don’t have as much power as her, or the same respect in the kingdom. And for that, I thank the goddesses that we were finally united.
"Fable is my last living relative, I can’t leave her all alone.” Golden blood crusted under his fingernail, rubbed onto his shirt, painting his cheek now in the light for everyone to see. Legend didn’t feel fear, but learned to keep a guard up near any knights roaming or villagers chatting. Myths and stories of the doomed fate of the royal boys - tossed aside for the power and protection of Hylia reborn forced Legend to hide his lineage.
Warriors clapped Legends back, “That means you’re related to our Skychild here! Or very least, Sun.” Sky was dragged into the pile as Time and Twilight smiled from their seats. Sky hid behind his sailcloth and Legend hid behind his fists when he wasn't hitting Warriors.
Warriors barely escaped, and not too long after Legend stared at the ground, picking at the dirt. “And thanks, too,” Legend said past his shirt sleeves, bundled up in his hands, the very ones he was resting his head on. “Thank you for listening. I don’t know what the fuck crawled up my ass, but thanks for not telling me I’m crazy or- I don’t know.”
“Hey,” Four spoke for the first time that morning, pulling his scabbard and shield onto his back, twisting his sword around in his hands, “Can’t be any crazier than hearing multiple voices in your head.” Four wanted to rip their goddess-damned throat out and feed it to a starving Octorok.
As all eyes glanced worriedly over to him, some barely stopping from questioning the sanity of the only guy they trusted near fire and a pile of weapons. Four’s face scrunched up, brow furrowing then relaxing, over and over.
Before anyone could voice anything though, Four beat them to the punch, eyes a multitude of swirling colors, and hand constantly switching positions on the sword's handle. “How much do we have to pay for you all to pretend you didn’t hear anything?”